


The Artist and Actor

by Gears112



Series: Reunion AU [17]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Awkward Romance, Fluff, Gen, Historical References, Joshy and Dee are helpful Matchmakers, Toddler being cute, meeting old flames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-18 08:45:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13678266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gears112/pseuds/Gears112
Summary: Set a while before the events of Henry's Return, Joshua and Cordelia help a friend reunite with an old flame.





	1. Chapter 1

...

“Hmm…” Joshua placed his head on top of Cordelia’s head, humming softly. Cordelia stopped her paperwork and sighed.

“Is there something you need Mr. Foster?” She asked simply.

“You smell nice. Nice fruity smell...” Was the simple response and Cordelia couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You are a strange man,”

“I’m not alone in that regards.” Cordelia laughed and turned to face him, crossing her arms.

“Alright, what did Chris put you up to?” Joshua laughed, holding his hands up.

“I did want to see you,” He admitted as he laughed. “But Chris wanted me to ask you if we can arrange something for you-know-who to meet a certain somebody…” Cordelia sighed softly. She knew exactly what Joshua was referring to; when Joshua and Chris returned from Korea it turns out that Chris had a daughter with one of the women that stayed near the Army hospital. The woman had died in childbirth, and Chris had taken the girl back home with him, refusing to abandon the child. Cordelia had met the girl, named Ruby, a few times and while she didn’t take after her father physically, she definitely had his personality. Chris had also been avoiding the Bells like the plague, Joshua explaining that Chris was mostly afraid of how Roy would react, being that the man still had affection for Cordelia’s brother. Cordelia quickly thought through the pros and cons of a meeting the child and seeing Chris again. After a few minutes before she spoke, a smile growing on her face.

“I think we can arrange something.”

.

* * *

 

.

“Hop! Hop! Hop!” Joshua laughed as he sat at the lobby desk, watching Ruby hopping from one colored title to another.

“You’re doing a nice job there Ruby.” Ruby twirled on her toes and giggled.

“Thank you Uncle Joshy!” She skipped over to the desk and peered over. “Whatcha doing?”

“Paperwork ‘n stuff.”

“Oh,”

“It’s just stuff to pass the time.” He said. “Cause I have to watch the lobby.”

“Why?”

“So people can come in and be greeted!” Joshua said as the door opened, the bell ringing. “Like this, Hello there,” He turned and Ruby scrambled around the counter.

“I wanna try I wanna try!! Hi!!” She stopped as she saw Cordelia with Roy. “Oh hi Misses Bell!!” Cordelia chuckled. “Who’s your friend? Why is he wearing a hat inside? Oh! Is he like the men who ride the bikes to that church that Mr. Fat-ter Lawrence doesn’t work at?” Roy shot his sister a dirty look while the sister blinked innocently as Joshua chuckled.

“Slow down Ruby, you’re gonna make his head spin.” He laughed. “Ruby, this is Cordelia’s older brother, Roy. He’s got an appointment today.”

“OOOooh, ok…” Ruby nodded firmly before grabbing Roy’s hand. “Come on Mr. Ms. Bell’s brother! I’ll take you to daddy! He said he had a super important app-pp-ppoint-tin-ment!” Roy shot a dirty look at the two before reluctantly allowing the child to drag him to the back. Cordelia and Joshua exchanged looks, both with shit-eating grins on their faces.

.

* * *

 

.

“Daddy~ Daddy~” Chris looked up from his sketches as Ruby entered his ‘room’.

“Hey sunshine, I thought Joshy was watching…” The color drained from his face as Roy entered, pulling his hat far down. “You…”

“This is Mr.Ms.Bell’s Big Brother! He has an app-pp-point-tin-ment!” Ruby said, unaware of the awkward tension before looking up at Roy. “My daddy’s the best!” She pulled him to the cot. “Now sit here!” She scrambled up the cot and patted the spot next to her. “And then Daddy can help you!”

“It was Cordelia and Foster’s idea.” Roy stated simply, reluctantly sitting down to not offend the child. Chris chuckled and shook his head.

“Can’t say I didn’t ask for it..” Roy looked at Chris, who had turned to fully face Roy. “I mean….I’ve always meant to talk to you…”

“You know him Daddy?” Ruby asked innocently and Roy couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yes, we do,” Roy said. “We were good friends, hung out sometimes.” Ruby nodded firmly, crossing her arms.

“Good. Nana says he needs to not hole himself up in the kitchen or here...but I don’t get that cause Daddy doesn’t sleep in the kitchen and this isn’t the most comfiest place to sleep…” Chris chuckled.

“The owner of that restaurant in town, Hye Moon...when I got back from the war, she helped me out a lot…helped a lot of us vets actually…” Roy simply nodded. “I wanted to tell you…I was just...I was just…”

“Afraid?” Roy asked and Chris chuckled bitterly.

“Yeah, yeah...you think after what I went through, this would be a breeze….” Chris rubbed the back of his head and sighed softly.

“Daddy? What’s wrong?” Ruby asked. “And why would you be afraid?” She looked at Roy. “Are you a were-de-wolf? Or a vampiliar? Or some other monster Aunt Nancy likes to talk about?” The toddler’s determined face, added with the mispronunciation, made Roy chuckle as Chris laughed.

“Oh Ruby...you are such a goof,” Chris said ruffling her hair. “Roy’s not like any of those characters, and I thought I told Nancy not to talk about that scary stuff around you…” Ruby tried to look innocent as Roy scoffed.

“And you thought she’d listen? She _is_ a Lawrence after all.” Ruby giggled.

“You sound like Uncle Dave and Uncle Manny! They always tease Aunt Nancy like that!” She giggled before looking at Roy firmly. “Mr. Ms. Bell’s Brother, I like you! I like you a lot!” Roy smirked.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that I suppose….” He turned to Chris and offered a small smile. “And it’s good to see you again...and that you’re well…” Chris smiled back softly, the two men knowing that they would have to have another talk, though without Ruby’s ‘help’ next time.

“Yeah….same here…”


	2. Dinner and a Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little idea with the inevitable question being asked within Roy's earshot.

....

“What happened to his face?” Chris looked up from punching in the orders as he saw a group of kids waiting with their families, talking to Ruby, who was sitting on Joshua’s lap, who was sitting next to Cordelia and Roy, who was covering his face.

“What are you talking about?” Ruby asked, looking over at Roy before looked at the kids, who were about to be scolded by their parents. “His face is fine.”

“No it’s not, it’s got white stuff on it.” One of the boys said, earning him a shush from his mother and Ruby scrunched her face.

“So? Lots of people have stuff on their faces.” She said simply. “I mean Uncle Wally has spots all over his face, and one of the fellas at the parlour has lots of scribbles on his face too!”

“Ruby,” Joshua said gently. “Wally has freckles, as does Cordelia…”

“Nooo Uncle Sammy says Uncle Wally has spots. Misses Bell has freckles.” Chris couldn’t help but smile at how his daughter unintentionally redirected the conversation as she went on about how Sammy explained the differences to her. He quickly passed the rest of the orders to a waiter before quickly coming over to them. “And Uncle Sammy also says that Uncle Wally is a fruit-Oh! Daddy~!” Ruby scooted off Joshua and embraced her father. “Is the table ready?”

“Just about sweetpea, I just wanted to make sure everything’s doing alright,” He smiled to everyone, though he stopped as he saw Roy’s face, unable to read it. He bit his lip, wondering if this was a bright idea before his daughter got his attention again.

“Oh! Oh! Daddy! Daddy! Guess what Uncle Roy taught me!?” She ran over to Roy and took his hand. “Come on Uncle Roy! Let’s show Daddy the dance! Come on please!!”

“Ruby,” Chris started. “Let’s not be demanding…” Ruby gave Roy the puppy dog eyes and the man chuckled.

“Well, I don’t have another cane, so you’ll have to do it by yourself, ok?” Ruby’s eyes lit up as she beamed as Roy handed her his cane. It was rather humorous as the cane was much taller than the girl as she tried to hold it out in front of her and tried hold it steady and tried to dance with it.

“I wanna try!” One of the children exclaimed and soon the kids were surrounding Ruby and the cane, trying to dance with Roy’s cane. “Oh this is cool!” The kid looked at Roy. “You can dance with this Mister?” 

“Well...kind of…” Roy muttered and Ruby beamed.

“Uncle Roy is the best dancer ever! In fact I’m sure Bendy took lessons from him in order to dance!” Cordelia covered her smile as the kids were in awe, looking between Roy and Ruby as the toddler was unaware of the embarrassment she was causing. Luckily two waiters came over to help the other families, leading them off with the kids saying goodbye to the ‘dancing man’ and Ruby.

“Roy…” Chris managed out. “I...Ruby…” What was he supposed he to say after  _ that _ ? He was surprised when he heard Roy start chuckling.

“Dancing man...that’s not the most clever one…” He mused.

“I was half expecting ‘spider man’.” Joshua joked and Ruby frowned.

“Uncle Roy’s not a spider! He’s my Uncle Roy!” 

“Joshy knows,” Cordelia said, picking up Ruby as Roy took back his cane. “He’s just making a joke.”

“It’s not a good one though.” Chris snorted.

“She got you good Joshy…” Josh rolled his eyes the toddler giggled. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, let’s just get some dinner, now that we got to see Ruby’s show.” Chris smiled and nodded.

“Right, follow me guys…”

**Author's Note:**

> Cordelia, Roy belong to @phantomthief_fee


End file.
